Home page of business attorney Jeffrey K. Schaffer's new website

The design is unique in that it looks like there are multiple pages, however, there is only one physical page. Four requirements for website development were:

1. Develop a responsive website so that the photos and text scale as the viewing device (phone, tablet, desktop, TV) changes
2. Instead of repainting the whole page, bring pages up to meet the menu panel so that the menu panel is always on display and in the same spot.
3. Display “highlights” about each section in a left sidebar in each section
4. Use WordPress as the website’s base so that the client can update the content on each virtual page

Solutions:

1. CSS was used to accomplish the responsive design requirement.
2. JavaScript was used to “bring pages up” to meet the menu panel
3. Four custom sidebar programs were created using PHP, registered in WordPress and selectively displayed using a third-party widget in order to accomplish the “highlights” requirement.
4. A custom web page template was developed using PHP in order to include individual WordPress pages into the virtual pages of the website.

Jeffrey K Schaffer’s website

More about WordPress website developer Karen Callahan

More about graphic designer Justin Clapp

After introducing myself, everyone filled in a personal profile – to be kept private and used as a reference during the rest of the presentation.  Next, together, we took the “Is it Blog Worthy or Not” quiz (list of ten blog titles).  It started out bumpy, but, everyone got the hang of it by the time we got to the eight title – and – most were surprised to learn the definition of blog worthy just through these mini discussions of blog titles.

After that, we looked at Google search results which set the stage for keeping our eye on the prize. We went on to talk about the attendees’ areas of expertise, their target audiences, and their current business goals. Next we explored strategies for finding topics to write about, keeping the content relevant, and keeping their target audience coming back.

We talked about blog SEO, Google+ and Google Authorship and the types of posts that will get you higher rankings. Finally, two scheduling strategies and one blog scheduling tool were introduced in order to keep ideas fresh and the blog posts coming.

Some Take-Aways…

• Blog-worthy content is content that will compel visitors to take the “call to action”
• Blog-worthy content can be written in such a way that you help your blog get better rankings in the search engines
• Blog-worthy content changes depending on your area of expertise, your business goals, your target audience
• If you’re blogging, it is worth while to set up G+ and Google Authorship in order
• ‘Evergreen’ blog posts can help you preserve your ranking

Want to know more? Call me…508-480-8833. Circle me

It’s the conversation that I have been having (trying to have) with clients and prospects over the last 6 months at least; how search engine optimization now includes optimization tactics for your social media presence participation. Your social interactions – how often you communicate, with whom you communicate and about what you communicate – are becoming more and more important to getting found on the Internet.

K’necht points out that in his experience, C-level  management is slow to pick up on the marketing opportunities available via social media websites (and the need to plan and strategize about social media activities), yet, they understand the power of word-of-mouth marketing…and scratches his head perplexed by the imbalance of those two.

With that, K’necht suggests a strategy for social engagement optimization – a new take on SEO. It’s a good, quick read that explains better than I. Read the article: The New SEO = Social Engagement Optimization

At SMX West, during an evening forum on March 11, 2013, Matt Cutts and Patrick Thomas of Google, reaffirm Google’s aim to provide *quality* results in its search engine results pages (SERPs). They discuss the difficult decisions the search engine giant has to make regarding tough content like race, porn, violence, wars,  suicides, etc.

Thomas points out that there are over 30 Trillion pages on the Internet. Naturally, the process needs to be automated. Programs are used to categorize content. Programs can’t always tell the difference between positive and negative presentation and discussion of topics.

Google does not want to push shocking or offensive content to you unless you want it (requesting it in search box). How do you determine the intent of a search?

Cutts states,

… you can’t scientifically vet everything on the Web…

The discussion moved to the “suggestions” Google provides as one is typing into the search box. Danny Sullivan (moderator from Search Engine Land) asks if there isn’t a list of negative words that can be searched for and suggests that they can just be eliminated. Cutts and Thomas bob their heads in understanding and say that it isn’t that easy, and confirm that there is a level of censorship going on in the suggestion box.

Thomas says,

We try to thread the needle really, really, really carefully…slippery slope…

Google applies some “really narrow policies” for suggestions that are sexually explicit, (some) hate speech, and stuff that can lead to violent content.

…

It is an interesting and candid discussion with more examples of tough choices (pics of ex girlfriends) and questions and suggestions from the audience. Thanks to Danny Sullivan (circle +SearchEngineLand) moderator, Matt Cutts (Google – circle +Matt Cutts) and Patrick Thomas (Google).

Watch the exchange…

Of the 200 million LinkedIn members, I am one of the top 1% most endorsed for WordPress in the United States!

Karen Callahan, Adventures Online, top 1% of professionals endorsed for WordPress on LinkedIn (2-11-2013)

Here’s my WordPress Wishlist for 2013:

1. That WordPress developers add a toggle switch that will SHUT OFF re-coding of my HTML when I am using HTML view.  I have a ton of experience and know where the tags go. Somedays, I fight with WordPress because it re-assembles my divs and paragraphs. Let me take responsibility for my blog. Do what I say and let me worry about how it will be interpretted in the browsers.
2. That WordPress developers build in a toggle switch that turns versioning OFF so that sole proprietors like myself can avoid the overhead of having every ’saved’ version of our posts being stored in the database.  Yes, WordPress saves EVERY SINGLE  ’saved’ version of your post. I haven’t published this post yet, and already WordPress has 6 copies.
   

   Wordpress Versioning on Unfinished Post

3. That WordPress developers add a toggle switch that enables bloggers to TURN OFF the creation of multiple versions of photos. WordPress stores up to 4 copies of every uploaded image – the original and three others at sizes that it has predetermined. Let the blogger be responsible for the content. I always re-size images before uploading and teach my clients to do the same. I only need the version I upload.
   
   

   The image above was reduced to the exact size I wanted (355 x 90) yet - WordPress created two other versions

These are my top 3 wishes… What are you wishes for improving WordPress in 2013?

Commonwealth Consulting Group website

Karen (Adventures Online) worked with Keith (CCG’s project lead)  to define the business requirements for the website.  Karen and her virutal team designed and developed the website which features a page design created specifically for CCG, a custom video on the home page, and a custom-designed tab menu system for user-friendly access to information. The website was built on a WordPress platform which provides CCG the added bonus of being able to update the content at any time. 

In addition, the website was developed with a built-in SEO foundation, including back-end and front-end components that search engines look for when evaluating a website for ranking in the results pages, and, a tool was included so that CCG can continue reinforcing the search-engine friendliness of the website.

Earlier in October, I attended the 2012 PubCon Conference in Las Vegas. PubCon is “the premier search and social media conference and expo”, and I look forward to it every year…I learn new things, witness success stories, become re-energized to continue working the social media landscape, validate that I am leading my clients on the right path, and network with attendees from many different countries working in all types of business situations.

I have my new to do list and will be rolling that out with each of my clients. Ten True Things about Social Media and Getting Found is an introduction to the things that need to be put in place in order to use social media – which includes your blogs – to help yourself get found on the Internet in 2013 and beyond!

The presentation was based on a Kindle book I wrote, SEO for WordPress Power Bloggers, that was released to coincide with the presentation. I have installed and customized over 60 WordPress blogs and have been doing search engine optimization for a dozen or so years. I love talking blogs, and I love passing on tips and techniques that help others realize success through their own efforts! SEO for WordPress Power Bloggers teaches bloggers do-it-yourself search engine optimization techniques to employ while writing in their WordPress blogs in order to gain rankings in the search engines.   Learn more about SEO for WordPress Power Bloggers.

The teleclass carries the same title as my eBook, “SEO for WordPress Power Bloggers“. The goal of the teleclass, and indeed the eBook, is to shed light on the many opportunities that bloggers have to guide Google and the other search engines into making decisions in their (the bloggers’) best interest.

I’m on a mission to help WordPress bloggers understand that they have much MUCH more control over how search engines view them and, ultimately, list them in the search engine results pages (SERPs).  Many bloggers think that the placement of their blogs in the search engines is “done” to them; that the search engines decide where they are going to list them and that is that! 

It’s true that the search engines decide where to list the blogs - but – and here’s the big  BUT - that decision is based on the information that bloggers provide them.

“…decision is based on the information that bloggers provide …”
This will be the focus of  the teleclass… helping bloggers understand that they are in control and showing them exactly where in WordPress they can tell the search engines who they are and what they do.